1996 Honda Civic loss of coolant and stuttering problem

I have a 1996 Honda Civic that has been loosing coolant over the past few months. I was never able to find where the leak is. Ie; no visible signs of a leak on any tubes or on radiator. I had a feeling it was being burnt off somewhere in the engine. The car has started stuttering on acceleration at stop signs or when trying to go up a hill. If I down shift it seems to burn something off and resumes acceleration. When that happens I get a strong oder that reminds me of ether. It feels like I'm one cylinder short. I changed the plugs and wires, and noticed 2 plugs had a white residue on them, and the other 2 looked normal. I did a compression reading and got 155-165-135-150. So i'm thinking I might have a head gasket leak or the EGR valve is sticking I also went to the local store and rented a radiator pressure kit but the extension wouldnt fit my cap. Please help!

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Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 AT 7:57 PM

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KHLOW2008

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41,974 POSTS

Hi cooper843,

Is the recovery tank drying out or it is overflowing?

Symptoms indicates a likely head gasket problem.

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Friday, September 3rd, 2010 AT 10:17 AM

COOPER843

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Its drying up, and I just noticed the tube going into the reserve is all gunked up. Any thing else I could check before diving into such a big project? And should I replace all the gaskets that are taken off along the way, or can they be cleaned and reused(except, of course, for the head gasket)?